 the partner of the sun, for he bows his head each night so I may breathe. I am the resplendent sterling silver orb, accompanying the earth in unwavering loyalty. I come out at night to guide your steps. I listen to the lonely who share their secrets with me. I am the object of fascination, the cause of many a sleepless night of serenading poetry in my praises. I play hide and seek with you, sometimes hiding behind a cloud like veil, sometimes raining like the matriarch of the skies. I master the oceans making them rough then tranquil. My sirens call to them just as apparent in mankind. Maybe that is why, when people fall in love, they sometimes call that person after me. Even I have admired such beauty, the most beautiful person I ever gazed upon was a man called Abbas, the one who introduced himself on the battlefield as the moon of the house of Hashem. At first, a hint of jealousy arose in me to see him fairer than myself, but I kept looking and found my jealousy was in vain. For never was there a kinder brother, a devoted protector and Shor's victor, an Abbas. If I had been there at the river, I would have begged him to drink. No one would have blamed you, O Abbas. But he threw the water back, preferring the children of Hussain over himself. They shot an arrow towards the moon. How careless they were! What did they think they could achieve? With no arms but still holding the skin of a flask by his teeth, he felt the ground and the eclipse was complete, once a silvery moon now stained by blood. They wept and wept to see Zaina weeping every night, because every time she looked at me, she would cry out, you are nothing compared to Abbas. In every corner of the earth, one moon reigns supreme, but in Karbala there are two. Alas, how I wish I could abdicate and surrender myself before the worthy moon, buried under its dust.